Shut up and play! yelled the drunk guy behind me, repeatedly, over the course of the three-hour, sold-out Brian Jonestown Massacre Show at the Bluebird Theater on Tuesday night.

He must not have gotten the memo. A BJM show is a commitment; the band typically plays long shows that require patience and curiosity. What s the famously mercurial Anton Newcombe thinking about these days? Based on Tuesday night s show, it s donating to Oxfam, Neil Young, German vs. American beer, and why Millennials suck as a generation.

Fortunately, he was also thinking about playing some excellent pop-infused psychedelic rock.

With 14 studio albums and countless EPs, compilations and live releases over their 26-year history, the band has a vast catalog of music to draw from. Tuesday night s show represented songs from a wide swath of that history, including standouts Anemone from 1996 s Satanic Majesty s Second Request and Wisdom from their 1995 studio debut Methodrone.

The band sounded strongest when its lushly layered jangle of guitars and percussion were focused around well-crafted psych-rock pop songs like Jennifer and Anemone. But Newcombe and crew were decidedly on their own time, and often their pop songs were followed by slow, meandering jams that seemed to lose some of the Bluebird audience mid-way through the set.

The unpredictable Newcombe is certainly the captain of the BJM ship, but it s an impressive vessel of players. The current iteration of the band features seven players, including three (and sometimes four) guitarists. The steady presence of Joel Gion on tambourine has become an iconic fixture of the band, and Gion’s affable but detached stage presence is a nice balance to Newcombe s irascible, erratic banter.

Maybe it was Newcombe s verbal sparring with the audience (“F#$* your requests! We don t play f-ing requests!! Spotify plays requests, and that s what s ruining this f-ing planet!”), maybe it was a set that alternately transfixed then confounded the audience, or maybe it was just really late on a Tuesday night- but the sold out Bluebird crowd had dwindled considerably before the end of the Brian Jonestown Massacre s set. But those who stuck it out got an interesting ride inside the mind of one of indie rock s most storied, talented madmen.